Michihiro Kobayashi -- Tokyo City（東京シティ）

 

It was always nice taking friends who had come to visit Tokyo down to Odaiba by Tokyo Bay. Those into photography just loved to take shots of Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower. 

A few years ago, I posted up a couple of articles on singer-songwriter Michihiro Kobayashi（小林みちひろ）. There's still not a lot of information available about him but judging from his "Margarita"（マルガリータ）and "Giniro no Ame"（銀色の雨）from 1980, he did love his Latin and he did love to take things easy.

From what I could glean from Hip Tank Records, I've been able to find out that his "Tokyo City" was his second single from 1977. Kobayashi took care of words and music while Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）handled the arrangement. There have been plenty of music covered in KKP regarding the capital city of Japan whether it be through the jazziness of Mood Kayo and the digital frenzy of technopop. But this is perhaps the first time I've heard anyone approach Tokyo as something feeling like a sleepy resort town. Shimmering strings and the bossa nova touch make for a relaxing time on the boardwalk. I'm not complaining at all, and the margaritas in Kobayashi's Tokyo must have that perfect combination of sweet and sour.

Michihiro Kobayashi -- Margarita（マルガリータ）

 

TGIF! We're supposedly in the last day of a three-day heat event with some cooler weather arriving for the weekend. The above is a Coconut Margarita that I had with my Crispy Chicken Sandwich when I caught "The Flash" in VIP a few weeks ago. The margarita wasn't so strong to get rid of my memories of how bad the CG was in the movie but it sure was tasty.😵

Let's start off this Friday's batch of urban contemporary stuff from Japan with singer-songwriter Michihiro Kobayashi's（小林みちひろ）"Margarita". A few years ago, I wrote about this obscure fellow's "Giniro no Ame"（銀色の雨）from his 1980 album "Nice to Meet You". Well, "Margarita" happens to be its track mate. I noted that "Giniro no Ame" has some Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）here and some AOR band Ambrosia there. This time though, I've noticed that Kobayashi has taken on a bit of Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）in his delivery against the background of a snappy and bubbly Caribbean rhythm which would deserve its own Coconut Margarita.🍹 Perhaps I can add that this particular song, just like a real margarita, has got its own genre ingredients: City Pop, Latin, New Music and J-AOR.

Kobayashi wrote and composed the song while Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）provided the arrangement. I gather that folks here and in Japan are probably hitting the margaritas hard today....or settling for some refreshing beer.🍺

Michihiro Kobayashi -- Giniro no Ame（銀色の雨）

Just the right song to put up right now since we had a major cloudburst about half an hour ago, and it's now gleaming sunshine.

There's virtually nothing that I could find out about singer-songwriter Michihiro Kobayashi（小林みちひろ）outside of the information that I could glean from the Hip Tank Records website. By 1980, he had released three albums including "Nice to Meet You" from that year, and there is this one track on the album, "Giniro no Ame" (Silver Rain).

According to the blurb for the album, "Giniro no Ame" has some elements of a typical Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）melody line, although for me, I get more hints of the music of AOR darlings Ambrosia. But I'm not going to quibble. "Giniro no Ame" is pleasant and relaxing, and as I listen to this for the third time, the afternoon sunshine is looking very nice out there. The cover photo of Kobayashi laying back with his hands behind his neck is an apt one.

Speaking of Ambrosia, why not listen to their wonderful "Biggest Part of Me"? It was also released in 1980.

Anri -- Heaven Beach

Got on my CD-buying binge...coming to the end of the year, y'know. One of the first albums I purchased was Anri's（杏里）"Heaven Beach". It's been a target for some time so I was glad to finally get my hands on it, especially after listening to the mellow groove of "Last Summer Whisper".

(full album)

This was Anri's 4th album from November 1982, released some 14 months after her last album, the more European-and-exotic-sounding "Kanashimi no Kujaku"（哀しみの孔雀）. With "Heaven Beach", according to the J-Wiki write-up on the album, this cemented Ms. Kawashima's status as the summer-sounding pop singer that we Anri fans all know and love.

At first assumption, I had thought that at least half of "Heaven Beach" was handled by musician-songwriter Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）but he actually just took care of three of the original 10 tracks. Still, this was the beginnings of a good collaboration between him and Anri in terms of the sunny summer pop that would hereafter characterize the singer. Case in point is the opening song "Ni-banme no Affair"（二番目のaffair...The Second Affair）which has all that Kadomatsu goodness with the skippy bass and galloping beat as Anri sings about struggling to keep from falling for the charms of a friend who may be trying to bring their relationship to another level.

Side A of the original 1982 LP seems to have gone more of the City Pop/dance-pop route that Anri would navigate for the next number of years with Kadomatsu's help. However, one of the songs that I've instantly liked from Listen 1 at 13:02 is by Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）, "Resolution". The ballad not only shows the singer's strength in her vocals but also that when it comes to the genre in question, it isn't always about Anri and Kadomatsu.

"Resolution", which seems to be about a woman in love thinking about things on the harbour at sunset, starts off as a J-AOR ballad but then gradually morphs into something even more old-fashioned and romantic.

"Lonely Driving" at 9:40 is some good on-the-road pop written by singer-songwriter Hiromi Kanda（神田広美）and composed by Anri herself.

Side B of the LP goes more into what Anri was doing in her earlier years with perhaps some of that exotic influence from "Kanashimi no Kujaku". Things start off with a bang at 22:02 with "Flash Back Memories" which was also written and composed by Kobayashi. And unlike the mellowness of "Resolution", "Flash Back Memories" actually flashes back memories of 1980s New Wave and Billboard pop. I love that keyboard in there as I get reminiscings of bands like Hall & Oates.

"Natsu ni Se wo Mukete"（夏に背を向けて...Turning Your Back on Summer）at 34:24 is a melodically sweet if lyrically bittersweet take on the inevitable end of a summer fling. Kanda once again provided the lyrics while Fuyumi Iwasawa（岩沢二弓）, one-half of the duo Bread & Butter, came up with the music. The song has that mellow pop sound that I would usually attribute to someone like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）but again Anri sounds great here.

She also sounds wonderful for the final and title track at 38:46, "Heaven Beach". In fact, I would say that she almost has the voice of her younger teen self in tackling this ballad which makes for an appropriate end to the original album. It has that sort of sunset feeling there but Anri, who wrote and composed it, wanted to imbue a good amount of inspiration, in my opinion.

(1:03:46)

The 2011 re-release of "Heaven Beach" contains a bonus track which originally saw the light as the B-side to Anri's 10th single "Omoikkiri American"（思いきりアメリカン）from April 1982. "Kaze no Naka de Loving You"（風の中でLoving you...Loving You In The Wind） has got that happy light samba beat; Anri has done a number of Latin-tinged songs but although I think the song is fun and all that, it feels as if it has been grafted onto the singer like she is doing more of a karaoke of a song done by the original singer. Machiko Ryu and Michihiro Kobayashi（竜真知子・小林みちひろ）took care of this one.

As I mentioned in the article for "Last Summer Whisper", "Heaven Beach" the album got no higher than No. 89 on Oricon when it was first released. I gather that folks had yet to cotton onto Anri although better days were just around the corner. However, I think in retrospect, the album is an important one for Anri fans since it was a crossroads of sorts for showing what she had been doing and what she would be capable of in the coming years. Definitely happy to get this one.